by Mike Chong Perkinson
We live in the midst of a post-modern world that has become suspicious with the propositional world of truth and facts. The declarations of science have only made the average individual more apprehensive about what can be known and who can know it. Truth has become personal, “what is true for you is not necessarily for me”; largely due to a world of overstatements that were not backed up by reality. Our world is less interested in whether or not something is factually true, but rather if something is real. This does not deny the interplay of truth with facts, but speaks to the “something more” that lies deep within the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
The Western Church (referred to as WC) has only facilitated this demise as we have bought into a secular worldview that has taught the sequence of fact, faith and feeling. In essence, feelings don’t matter and can’t be trusted. We are basically Vulcans (like Spock on Star Trek -Vulcans are individuals that have removed all emotion because of the near extinction of the Vulcan society due to emotions). We live in a cerebral world of propositions and systems of thought that guide our daily lives. The world is then not about love, righteousness or beauty, but about being right, clear and logical. The emphasis is on supporting, building and nurturing the proposition and the operating system and not on nurturing human beings (Philippians 1:25) and our operating system, the heart.
As a result the WC has operated in a paradigm that focuses more on the “how” than it does the ultimate destination or the “why”. It would be like two families arguing over which vehicle to take on a trip. One family wants to take the RV and the other wants to take the SUV. In their argument they lose sight of the purpose and destination and focus only on the reasons their vehicle of choice is superior and more necessary. The point of the trip, family fun and togetherness is lost in the heated exchange and both families will not budge.
RV – Argument for: More room, can rest better and relax while we drive, can interact better as families.
SUV – Argument for: Roomy enough, better gas mileage, easier to drive, less likely to get into an accident, easier to park.
The families can’t agree on the mode of transportation, the “how” and so by taking separate vehicles are no longer able to vacation together. How unfortunate. How silly. How church-like. It is so easy as the church to get sidetracked and spend more time disagreeing over the “how” rather than focusing on the direction (a “how” the Bible does not address). You know - when your political party determines your theology, when you base your Biblical views more on the Constitution than Scripture, when you turned Christianity into creeds and doctrines at the expense of a relationship with God, when love becomes a tool to evangelize instead of a way of life, when our denominational preference supersedes Scripture; when this happens we become "religianity" rather than being simple followers of Christ.
The WC gets lost in its creedal wars, fighting with a heart that is far from the heart of love that Jesus told us would define as His disciples.
The WC has then created a process where we…
Educate to Principle > Equip to Principle > Evangelize because of principle for the principle.
The WC seeks to admonish and address issues in life so that people will adhere to the principles and systems that have created and need to be supported. The contention of many in the WC is to protect and to preserve their system or way of thinking more than preserve and nurture others in the love, grace and freedom of Christ.
The OC (Organic Church)
On the other hand, the OC (Organic means life on life) seeks to help facilitate a relationship with the Person of Christ by incarnating His presence (Gift of Presence) and living in the reality of the “Irreducible Core” (loving God, loving others as you love yourself and as you live life, make disciples). Systems are utilized in the OC as well. However the systems are not served but serve the life that is forming. These systems are adaptable and flexible and only exist to support and release life - not constrain it.
The OC process then would look something like…
Encounter a Person > Equip to and for life > Edify other persons
The WC is about strict adherence and behaviors while the OC is about 3 relationships (God, self and others). More simply, love affirms which frees people to become the person God intended them to be (Ephesians 2:10, NLT “masterpiece”) – releases us to have a relationship with a person not a proposition. Just a side note, propositions are much easier to control – a person, particularly Christ, is not.
All of that to say, forgiveness leads to freedom and freedom leads to fruitfulness. Understanding the proposition of forgiveness is vital but experiencing it in relationship with the living God of the universe is another matter. Love frees and is the basis of the new revolution.
If you have found yourself weeping over this generation, interceding on behalf of lost people, praying that God would forgive them for they know not what they do, finding ways to facilitate reconciliation in all matters of life, and growing in the Fruit of the Spirit; then you are being prepared for what is to come.
The closing two verses of the Book of Acts help us understand what this all means. Paul had been living in house arrest for 2 years, paying his own expenses, as well as having a soldier guard him (Acts 28:16). In spite of the obstacles, Luke closes the account with these powerful words, “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance”. When we live for ourselves there are always hindrances. When we live for Christ, there are only opportunities.
The revolution is full of opportunities. May God’s people submit to the King, be overtaken by love, and find the world ready and primed to receive our Messiah! To the resolved and broken, the time is now. The revolution has begun!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
De-coupling From Culture, Engaging People
by Tom Johnston
Since Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, followed and reinforced by Theodosius I and his Code in 380 AD which established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, the Christian faith has held special cultural privilege in Western society. Indeed, as the West developed, the Church has played a foundational role in the formation of its civilization. The Church has been the center pole of that society, and consequently the American nation as well. Here in New England where I live, during the Colonial Era, before a village or town could receive a charter from the King, a church building HAD to be constructed. Mr. Jefferson’s letter regarding his thoughts on the separation of Church and state had not yet been penned – the Church was seen to be essential to the community, the society, the culture. (Kings ruled by Divine Right – and none wanted to offend God!) Christendom, the aligning of Church and State, became the dominant cultural driver in Western societies. How far we have moved from that reality, with the secularism that came with Modernity replacing the influence of the Church. This has been both good and bad. Bad in the sense of a general decline in those professing Christ as a percentage of the population, bad in the sense that the positive influence of the Church in ethics (politics, business, science) has declined as well. But perhaps it is good as well. Perhaps it is an opportunity.
Today the Church in the West struggles to find its place in the very civilization it helped to found. Europe has become profoundly post-Christian, some even say pagan. Years of culture wars in the United States has not gained any purchase in the downhill slide of faith in our country. By way of example, the recent American Religious Identification Survey indicates 29% of the people living in my state (New Hampshire) have no religious identity. Not Christian, not Jewish, not Muslim, not Buddhist - not anything. This is up 20% in the past 18 years. Yet the Church of Jesus Christ continues to grow everywhere in the world outside the West. The Church of the West is in trouble, the Church of the Bible is not.
In response, many pastors and Christian leaders are on a quest for an elusive thing – cultural relevance. Many see such relevance as the key to communicating the Gospel effectively to generations which have yet to be truly impacted by its message. And while we would applaud their missional concern and their desire to once again impact the society for Christ, we are not sure that cultural relevance is what we should be aiming for. An honest appraisal of the Gospel as compared to some of our Western cultural norms shows some dramatic divergence. For the Christian disciple, the way up is down, the way to gain your life is to lose it, the way to lead is to serve. Seems a little different than the current version of the American Dream, as we see a combination of personal and corporate greed wreck the economy as companies sold things to people who were lusting for what they could not afford. Not exactly Matthew 6:33.
No, Christianity is counter-cultural to the West, as the Gospel speaks prophetically against much of the self-absorbed nature of our society. It is counter-intuitive, as it does not support the current morals and values of the West, seemingly wrong to those steeped in the materialistic, hedonistic lifestyle at the core of our civilization. To make the point simply, the recent “economic crisis” happened in part because people stopped buying stuff. Times got tough, people got smart, savings went up, personal debt went down (first time since WWII) – and this was bad for the economy. So the government had to spend for us, and for our kids and grandkids. But that’s another article.
So, what then about culture? The Church exists within culture, incarnates within culture and communicates the Gospel within culture. A proper “cultural exegesis” is required for a local church to effectively minister in any given environment. So, culture cannot be escaped, but the issue is not cultural relevance, because the Gospel is not relevant to culture. It’s relevant to people.
For 2000 years, in many different parts of the world, in many different cultures, the Gospel of the Kingdom and its message of salvation have impacted billions of people – and changed and shaped cultures – through the people who have been transformed by Christ. The individuals, couples and families who have entered into the new birth and then been used by God to bring change to the culture. They have been so affected because the Gospel speaks to the core human needs of significance, transcendence and belonging. The needs of people. People’s hearts must change before they can change their culture. In effect, true Christianity is a counter-cultural, revolutionary in-breaking of the Kingdom of God into the lives and affairs of men. The Kingdom advances one heart at a time. The hearts of people. This spiritual revolution initiated by Christ is not propagated by institutions on organizations – but by His people. It is shared person to person, life to life. It is an organic reality that transcends culture. In fact, every culture at some point must bow its knee to Jesus. We don’t need to dominate culture nor morph ourselves to mate with it – we need to be salt and light within it, ministering the love and life of Jesus to people.
Perhaps it is that God in His sovereign plan is allowing the Church in the West to lose its cultural influence so as to de-couple us from it, so that we can minister to the people within it. We could leave the Culture War behind (we lost anyway) and engage in a war of love and service to people. No longer being the center pole of Western civilization, we can’t expect people to come to us, we must go to them, going with a heart of love embodied in sharing God’s truth, compassion and justice.
So, abandon your quest to hit the moving target of cultural relevance, and go find people to love on, in Jesus name. When He transforms enough of us, He can transform our society. Go engage some people.
Since Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, followed and reinforced by Theodosius I and his Code in 380 AD which established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, the Christian faith has held special cultural privilege in Western society. Indeed, as the West developed, the Church has played a foundational role in the formation of its civilization. The Church has been the center pole of that society, and consequently the American nation as well. Here in New England where I live, during the Colonial Era, before a village or town could receive a charter from the King, a church building HAD to be constructed. Mr. Jefferson’s letter regarding his thoughts on the separation of Church and state had not yet been penned – the Church was seen to be essential to the community, the society, the culture. (Kings ruled by Divine Right – and none wanted to offend God!) Christendom, the aligning of Church and State, became the dominant cultural driver in Western societies. How far we have moved from that reality, with the secularism that came with Modernity replacing the influence of the Church. This has been both good and bad. Bad in the sense of a general decline in those professing Christ as a percentage of the population, bad in the sense that the positive influence of the Church in ethics (politics, business, science) has declined as well. But perhaps it is good as well. Perhaps it is an opportunity.
Today the Church in the West struggles to find its place in the very civilization it helped to found. Europe has become profoundly post-Christian, some even say pagan. Years of culture wars in the United States has not gained any purchase in the downhill slide of faith in our country. By way of example, the recent American Religious Identification Survey indicates 29% of the people living in my state (New Hampshire) have no religious identity. Not Christian, not Jewish, not Muslim, not Buddhist - not anything. This is up 20% in the past 18 years. Yet the Church of Jesus Christ continues to grow everywhere in the world outside the West. The Church of the West is in trouble, the Church of the Bible is not.
In response, many pastors and Christian leaders are on a quest for an elusive thing – cultural relevance. Many see such relevance as the key to communicating the Gospel effectively to generations which have yet to be truly impacted by its message. And while we would applaud their missional concern and their desire to once again impact the society for Christ, we are not sure that cultural relevance is what we should be aiming for. An honest appraisal of the Gospel as compared to some of our Western cultural norms shows some dramatic divergence. For the Christian disciple, the way up is down, the way to gain your life is to lose it, the way to lead is to serve. Seems a little different than the current version of the American Dream, as we see a combination of personal and corporate greed wreck the economy as companies sold things to people who were lusting for what they could not afford. Not exactly Matthew 6:33.
No, Christianity is counter-cultural to the West, as the Gospel speaks prophetically against much of the self-absorbed nature of our society. It is counter-intuitive, as it does not support the current morals and values of the West, seemingly wrong to those steeped in the materialistic, hedonistic lifestyle at the core of our civilization. To make the point simply, the recent “economic crisis” happened in part because people stopped buying stuff. Times got tough, people got smart, savings went up, personal debt went down (first time since WWII) – and this was bad for the economy. So the government had to spend for us, and for our kids and grandkids. But that’s another article.
So, what then about culture? The Church exists within culture, incarnates within culture and communicates the Gospel within culture. A proper “cultural exegesis” is required for a local church to effectively minister in any given environment. So, culture cannot be escaped, but the issue is not cultural relevance, because the Gospel is not relevant to culture. It’s relevant to people.
For 2000 years, in many different parts of the world, in many different cultures, the Gospel of the Kingdom and its message of salvation have impacted billions of people – and changed and shaped cultures – through the people who have been transformed by Christ. The individuals, couples and families who have entered into the new birth and then been used by God to bring change to the culture. They have been so affected because the Gospel speaks to the core human needs of significance, transcendence and belonging. The needs of people. People’s hearts must change before they can change their culture. In effect, true Christianity is a counter-cultural, revolutionary in-breaking of the Kingdom of God into the lives and affairs of men. The Kingdom advances one heart at a time. The hearts of people. This spiritual revolution initiated by Christ is not propagated by institutions on organizations – but by His people. It is shared person to person, life to life. It is an organic reality that transcends culture. In fact, every culture at some point must bow its knee to Jesus. We don’t need to dominate culture nor morph ourselves to mate with it – we need to be salt and light within it, ministering the love and life of Jesus to people.
Perhaps it is that God in His sovereign plan is allowing the Church in the West to lose its cultural influence so as to de-couple us from it, so that we can minister to the people within it. We could leave the Culture War behind (we lost anyway) and engage in a war of love and service to people. No longer being the center pole of Western civilization, we can’t expect people to come to us, we must go to them, going with a heart of love embodied in sharing God’s truth, compassion and justice.
So, abandon your quest to hit the moving target of cultural relevance, and go find people to love on, in Jesus name. When He transforms enough of us, He can transform our society. Go engage some people.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Jesus Christ: Revolutionary, Liberator
by Tom Johnston“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – Jesus Christ, Luke 4:18-21 ESV
It often surprises many people that Jesus is not just some mild-mannered teacher of moral values, but rather a spiritual revolutionary, the Anointed One chosen of God as the ultimate Liberator of humankind. That’s O.K., because it surprised the folks in Nazareth, too. Jesus, in his own words, declares Himself and His intention to upset the apple cart. He was not just another run-of-the-mill upstart young Rabbi just come in from one of those desert epiphanies. No, He was the Invader from Heaven, breaking in from the outside, intent on setting some things straight. In this declaration, He is throwing down the gauntlet in the face of the Adversary, declaring the coming of the Kingdom rule of God.
Seven Marks of A Revolutionary
It was not all that long ago in the span of history that America fought what has been termed the “Revolutionary War” against what was called “tyranny” and “oppression.” Jesus came to fight a much more significant war on a much grander scale – all the cosmos and the humanity it contained was the prize for which He waged war – not a war of this fallen world (cosmos = created order, see John 18:33-40), but a spiritual war which spanned the dimensions of reality (Philippians 2:8-11). Yet in this, Jesus finds Himself in the company of many members of humanity, perhaps the Founding Fathers of America included, who were radicals, revolutionaries bent on liberating people from oppression. Let’s look at some of the marks of such people:
1. He claimed Divine empowerment. He was not the first revolutionary, or the last, to claim such, but He was the only One who could do so in absolute, undeniable truth
2. He felt that He was specially chosen for His task. Many leaders throughout history have proclaimed the same, but none with the effect on humanity, or on human temporal and eternal history, like Him
3. He had a special focus on the poor – those who were spiritually impoverished as well as the economically disadvantaged and destitute
4. He led the largest jail-break in the history of creation, busting into the worst concentration camp ever to lead the captives to freedom (Ephesians 4:8-10). And to this day He continues to free men and women, boys and girls from the bonds of death and hell (1 Corinthians 15)
5. He brought a new way of seeing things, a new take on reality, that was not of the status quo. This challenged the religious leaders of the day – in fact it scared the gehenna out of them
6. He came to over-turn the tables of injustice, racial hatred and oppression – the oppression of humanity by the Adversary and the oppression of humanity by humans
7. He, with all authority, declared all the debt owed to the true King of the Universe was to be paid in full – and then He Himself paid it on the Cross
Jesus is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. But He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. And He is not a tame lion. Nor is He a circus lion, who can be taught to do tricks. He is a victorious warrior who defeats His enemies with a word and has a “take no prisoners” policy – because the liberation of the prisoners is why He fights. He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and is over all dominions, principalities and powers, in the form of both human and spiritual governments. He cannot be overthrown, ousted in a coup d’état, or subverted through a counter-insurgency – and the increase of His government shall know no end. He is utterly undefeatable. He is not a messianic politician, but THE Messiah. He is the ultimate Revolutionary because He is good, unstained by fallen-ness, untainted by personal agenda. His methods – hanging out with all the “wrong people,” having relationship with the “usual suspects,” are completely righteousness, because He is the embodiment of both love and justice. He does not wage war in the flesh or by the means of this world, but by service, self-sacrifice and speaking the Truth to us in love. And we are His revolutionary Army of Liberation.
Come Again?
That’s right. The Church. The Body of Christ. You – Spiritual Warrior of Love, Freedom and Hope. What? Not quite the image you had of yourself, or of the Church in the West? Could it be because the Church, born in the image of its Creator, having both lion and lamb characteristics, has forgotten its spiritual lion-hood? Is it perhaps because our self-perception is that we are grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants in the land? Is it because we think our culture too hard, too cold, too wealthy, too satiated, too disinterested – in other words too tough – for Jesus to conquer? Is it because we have bought a defeatist and escapist theology that says it’s all downhill from here – and we all beam out just before it hits bottom, so hey, why bother anyway? Maybe it is a combination of these factors, and more.
Or maybe, it’s just because we’ve forgotten who we are in Christ. Or perhaps we have never really known. You are what you eat – and we have been fed an incomplete diet in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian. But not all of us have drank the watered-down kool-aid of spiritual passivity. There are lions in our midst – we know you are out there! It is time to believe in the call of God on your life as a liberator, to trust His Spirit working in you to revolutionize your heart with His love, so that He might revolutionize your home, your neighborhood, your church for His kingdom. The time has come for you to take a stand for the Liberation Front of Heaven and embrace the fullness of Christ in you – embrace the Lion. It’s time for you to stand up, stand out and wage the war of love. It is a time to take risks, to love with reckless abandon the lost, the hurting, the broken – the “wrong people,” the “usual suspects,” to champion again the cause of the poor – the spiritual poor and those poor in the things of this life (Jesus wasn’t kidding about the sheep and the goats thing in Matthew 25). It’s time to work to set the spiritual captives free – and to work to free those held captive by poverty, alcoholism, addictions, fear, hopelessness, and social injustices of every kind. It is time to see the new reality of God’s Kingdom life as real, and not a storybook fairly tale of something that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – or as something we wait passively for the Rapture Bus to swing by our stop and take us to the great-by-and-by. Yes, it’s time to even stand up to governments that oppress people through economic and political means. Where are the advocates in the Church for the Darfurs, the Sudans, the Rwandas? Yes, we know you are there, but you are distressingly too few.
And why should we concern ourselves with such things? After all, we each have our own stuff to deal with, right? The first reason is simply because it completes the work of Christ, pulling into this reality and into the lives of people the acceptable year of the Lord’s favor - the blessings of His Kingdom reign and rule. His Kingdom enriches, frees, illuminates and unshackles – and that reality needs to be demonstrated in and through, His Church. The second reason is just as simple – He has already begun doing these things for you. How could you but allow Him to do the same thing through you for others:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” - John 20:21-22 ESV
So, go, you who are the Spirit Breathed-Upon, sent in the same way the Father sent Him: Empowered. Chosen. To the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed – in the spiritual and the natural – and declare and demonstrate the blessings of His Kingdom rule and reign. Remember, this is your God:
The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing – Zephaniah 3:17 RSV
Go, be a revolutionary, a liberator, like Jesus.
Jesus is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. But He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. And He is not a tame lion. Nor is He a circus lion, who can be taught to do tricks. He is a victorious warrior who defeats His enemies with a word and has a “take no prisoners” policy – because the liberation of the prisoners is why He fights. He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and is over all dominions, principalities and powers, in the form of both human and spiritual governments. He cannot be overthrown, ousted in a coup d’état, or subverted through a counter-insurgency – and the increase of His government shall know no end. He is utterly undefeatable. He is not a messianic politician, but THE Messiah. He is the ultimate Revolutionary because He is good, unstained by fallen-ness, untainted by personal agenda. His methods – hanging out with all the “wrong people,” having relationship with the “usual suspects,” are completely righteousness, because He is the embodiment of both love and justice. He does not wage war in the flesh or by the means of this world, but by service, self-sacrifice and speaking the Truth to us in love. And we are His revolutionary Army of Liberation.
Come Again?
That’s right. The Church. The Body of Christ. You – Spiritual Warrior of Love, Freedom and Hope. What? Not quite the image you had of yourself, or of the Church in the West? Could it be because the Church, born in the image of its Creator, having both lion and lamb characteristics, has forgotten its spiritual lion-hood? Is it perhaps because our self-perception is that we are grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants in the land? Is it because we think our culture too hard, too cold, too wealthy, too satiated, too disinterested – in other words too tough – for Jesus to conquer? Is it because we have bought a defeatist and escapist theology that says it’s all downhill from here – and we all beam out just before it hits bottom, so hey, why bother anyway? Maybe it is a combination of these factors, and more.
Or maybe, it’s just because we’ve forgotten who we are in Christ. Or perhaps we have never really known. You are what you eat – and we have been fed an incomplete diet in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian. But not all of us have drank the watered-down kool-aid of spiritual passivity. There are lions in our midst – we know you are out there! It is time to believe in the call of God on your life as a liberator, to trust His Spirit working in you to revolutionize your heart with His love, so that He might revolutionize your home, your neighborhood, your church for His kingdom. The time has come for you to take a stand for the Liberation Front of Heaven and embrace the fullness of Christ in you – embrace the Lion. It’s time for you to stand up, stand out and wage the war of love. It is a time to take risks, to love with reckless abandon the lost, the hurting, the broken – the “wrong people,” the “usual suspects,” to champion again the cause of the poor – the spiritual poor and those poor in the things of this life (Jesus wasn’t kidding about the sheep and the goats thing in Matthew 25). It’s time to work to set the spiritual captives free – and to work to free those held captive by poverty, alcoholism, addictions, fear, hopelessness, and social injustices of every kind. It is time to see the new reality of God’s Kingdom life as real, and not a storybook fairly tale of something that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – or as something we wait passively for the Rapture Bus to swing by our stop and take us to the great-by-and-by. Yes, it’s time to even stand up to governments that oppress people through economic and political means. Where are the advocates in the Church for the Darfurs, the Sudans, the Rwandas? Yes, we know you are there, but you are distressingly too few.
And why should we concern ourselves with such things? After all, we each have our own stuff to deal with, right? The first reason is simply because it completes the work of Christ, pulling into this reality and into the lives of people the acceptable year of the Lord’s favor - the blessings of His Kingdom reign and rule. His Kingdom enriches, frees, illuminates and unshackles – and that reality needs to be demonstrated in and through, His Church. The second reason is just as simple – He has already begun doing these things for you. How could you but allow Him to do the same thing through you for others:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” - John 20:21-22 ESV
So, go, you who are the Spirit Breathed-Upon, sent in the same way the Father sent Him: Empowered. Chosen. To the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed – in the spiritual and the natural – and declare and demonstrate the blessings of His Kingdom rule and reign. Remember, this is your God:
The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing – Zephaniah 3:17 RSV
Go, be a revolutionary, a liberator, like Jesus.
Binding and Loosing: Language of a Revolutionary
by Mike Chong Perkinson
Jesus told Peter, after he made the great confession that “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
Jesus seems to be giving Peter the keys of authority that will invade the dimensions of planet Earth. What did Jesus mean? What is the authority that has been granted to Peter? Are we able to simply bind and lose whatever we desire? Can we simply decide to start a spiritual revolution and loose it on earth? From a quick literal reading it would appear such is the case.
Whatever camp you find yourself in determines your interpretive possibilities. For the conservative Evangelical the power of binding and loosing can only be based in the written Word of God. For the Pentecostal, the power of binding and loosing is based in the authority of Jesus granted in the presence of the Holy Spirit who empowers every believer to live out this authority. For the Catholic, this power has been given through a long succession of Popes, beginning with Peter, that speak as the living words of authority, preserving the tradition and life of the Church.
Ok, enough of the exegetical possibilities. What in the world did the text mean? And how does it apply to a revolutionary?
I find it fascinating that the once the words have been spoken by Jesus, He immediately instructs the disciples to tell no that He is the Christ and explains how He will go to Jerusalem and die and on the third day be raised from the dead.
What intrigues me further about this text is Peter’s response to Jesus going to Jerusalem and dying. The first thing that Peter tries to bind is Jesus, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22)
Jesus swiftly rebukes him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23)
I wonder how much of an issue this really is. We, well meaning sons and daughters of Adam, in our attempt to move out in the authority of Jesus, often end up binding and loosing the wrong things. How Hell must laugh.
Another text adds to our understanding, which reads, “Why could we not cast it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29,)
In the account, the disciples were not able to cast out the demon (Mark 9:18) and were perplexed as the text indicates. The disciples had to learn that their previous success in expelling demons (Mark 6:7) provided no guarantee of continued power. Rather the power of God must be asked for on each occasion in radical reliance upon the Spirit of God. This power must be asked for afresh in prayer. Our reliance is not on a principle but a person that we commune with daily. As Jesus said, the Son only does what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19).
To trust God’s power in the sense that we have it in our control and at our disposal is tantamount to unbelief; for it is really to trust in ourselves instead of in God. Faith is a radical reliance upon the Person of Christ not just the propositions about Him. I can control a proposition or principle and implement it as I see fit. I can’t control Christ and use Him as I see fit. Faith in Christ requires a relationship, trust, on-going dialogue (prayer), and a daily surrender to His heart and will for my life.
And what does this have to do with a revolutionary? Simply this, we believe God is in the midst of something profound in our land. A spiritual wave of hope and life is swelling in the distant horizon and the saints are finding themselves stirred within to ride this wave of life and societal transformation that will release the healing and saving power of the Kingdom. It is within this framework of the in-breaking of His Kingdom that we have the power to bind and loose.
So how do we bind and loose and facilitate this revolution? The first key in a spiritual awakening or revolution is not so much what we choose to do in the name of Jesus but our surrender to the Ultimate Revolutionary, our obedience to His voice in our daily lives, our willingness to live within the confines of His Kingdom authority; and our passionate aim to see His Kingdom extended so that all might come to know the restoration of life His Kingdom brings (this is about salvation of souls but includes so much more).
And so, it is not so much about what we bind our loose or the power that has been granted us to exercise demons and remove the darkness in our land. His authority has been released in us (Matthew 28:18-20), that is not the issue. The issue is our on-going dialogue (prayer) with the Ultimate Revolutionary so that we move when He moves and we bind what He has bound and we loose what He has loosed.
The prophet Micah encapsulates this for us as he declares, “He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.” (2:13) The King has come. His Kingdom is here. The revolution has begun. May we have ears to hear what He is saying and eyes to see what He is doing!
Jesus told Peter, after he made the great confession that “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
Jesus seems to be giving Peter the keys of authority that will invade the dimensions of planet Earth. What did Jesus mean? What is the authority that has been granted to Peter? Are we able to simply bind and lose whatever we desire? Can we simply decide to start a spiritual revolution and loose it on earth? From a quick literal reading it would appear such is the case.
Whatever camp you find yourself in determines your interpretive possibilities. For the conservative Evangelical the power of binding and loosing can only be based in the written Word of God. For the Pentecostal, the power of binding and loosing is based in the authority of Jesus granted in the presence of the Holy Spirit who empowers every believer to live out this authority. For the Catholic, this power has been given through a long succession of Popes, beginning with Peter, that speak as the living words of authority, preserving the tradition and life of the Church.
Ok, enough of the exegetical possibilities. What in the world did the text mean? And how does it apply to a revolutionary?
I find it fascinating that the once the words have been spoken by Jesus, He immediately instructs the disciples to tell no that He is the Christ and explains how He will go to Jerusalem and die and on the third day be raised from the dead.
What intrigues me further about this text is Peter’s response to Jesus going to Jerusalem and dying. The first thing that Peter tries to bind is Jesus, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22)
Jesus swiftly rebukes him, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23)
I wonder how much of an issue this really is. We, well meaning sons and daughters of Adam, in our attempt to move out in the authority of Jesus, often end up binding and loosing the wrong things. How Hell must laugh.
Another text adds to our understanding, which reads, “Why could we not cast it out?” And He said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29,)
In the account, the disciples were not able to cast out the demon (Mark 9:18) and were perplexed as the text indicates. The disciples had to learn that their previous success in expelling demons (Mark 6:7) provided no guarantee of continued power. Rather the power of God must be asked for on each occasion in radical reliance upon the Spirit of God. This power must be asked for afresh in prayer. Our reliance is not on a principle but a person that we commune with daily. As Jesus said, the Son only does what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19).
To trust God’s power in the sense that we have it in our control and at our disposal is tantamount to unbelief; for it is really to trust in ourselves instead of in God. Faith is a radical reliance upon the Person of Christ not just the propositions about Him. I can control a proposition or principle and implement it as I see fit. I can’t control Christ and use Him as I see fit. Faith in Christ requires a relationship, trust, on-going dialogue (prayer), and a daily surrender to His heart and will for my life.
And what does this have to do with a revolutionary? Simply this, we believe God is in the midst of something profound in our land. A spiritual wave of hope and life is swelling in the distant horizon and the saints are finding themselves stirred within to ride this wave of life and societal transformation that will release the healing and saving power of the Kingdom. It is within this framework of the in-breaking of His Kingdom that we have the power to bind and loose.
So how do we bind and loose and facilitate this revolution? The first key in a spiritual awakening or revolution is not so much what we choose to do in the name of Jesus but our surrender to the Ultimate Revolutionary, our obedience to His voice in our daily lives, our willingness to live within the confines of His Kingdom authority; and our passionate aim to see His Kingdom extended so that all might come to know the restoration of life His Kingdom brings (this is about salvation of souls but includes so much more).
And so, it is not so much about what we bind our loose or the power that has been granted us to exercise demons and remove the darkness in our land. His authority has been released in us (Matthew 28:18-20), that is not the issue. The issue is our on-going dialogue (prayer) with the Ultimate Revolutionary so that we move when He moves and we bind what He has bound and we loose what He has loosed.
The prophet Micah encapsulates this for us as he declares, “He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.” (2:13) The King has come. His Kingdom is here. The revolution has begun. May we have ears to hear what He is saying and eyes to see what He is doing!
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